


The Emperor and His Grand-Admiral: A Lothalian Short Story.

by Random_Moroccan



Series: ‘He Who Made a Desert and Called it Peace’ [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emperor Darth Vader, Episode: s04e15-16 Family Reunion – and Farewell, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Star Destroyer Chimaera (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:03:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28530399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_Moroccan/pseuds/Random_Moroccan
Summary: In a world where a much more dynamic and present Darth Vader toppled Sidious's early reign upon the Galaxy, things go a bit differently for the rebels during their ultimate battle for the Lothal sector.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader & Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo
Series: ‘He Who Made a Desert and Called it Peace’ [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089944
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	The Emperor and His Grand-Admiral: A Lothalian Short Story.

"[...] Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance." - Excerpt from remnants of Neo-Mandalorian crusaders scripture.

The door to the bridge opened. 

Two familiar E-11 blaster shots rang in the air behind his back. 

The sound of two bodies, his death trooper guard most probably, dropped. 

There was only one man that was hostile in this ship. And he knew who it was. 

Ezra Bridger. 

He turned, to see if his deduction was right. 

And it was. As always.

“Looks like you lose Thrawn.” The rebel spoke. _The E-11 is aimed at his chest, the body language of the boy radiates both caution and confidence. The child believes he has gained initiative._

_“_ A momentary setback.” He replies, coolly. Now that he is fully facing this incredibly persistent – albeit minor in the grand scheme of things - threat. 

“We’ll see.” Countered Ezra, going from a two to a one-handed grip position for his blaster. 

“Sir.” Said one of his communications officers. “Several unidentified objects have just entered orbit.” _There is tension in his voice. The beginning of panic._

_But these so-called rebels have not but a small fraction of the 7_ _th_ _Fleet firepower. Even if outside hostile factions were to_ _somehow_ _mobilize en-masse outside of the Lothal Sector, they would have been spotted and intercepted by any Imperial Forces patrolling this quadrant of the Outer-Rim long before their arrival to Lothal. If deemed a threat that is._

_And Grand Moff_ _Tarkin_ _is not a man to let any prey go away. Not on his watch._

_And_ _so,_ _he deduced, the advantage was still his._

“My blockade will intercept them.” He told the lieutenant. 

“They destroyed the blockade.” The officer replied. _His voice is in shock, the information although unbelievable by pure logic revel itself to be true enough so that even one of his experienced crewmembers broke Imperial professional tone._ “Our ships are just... gone.” _He ended almost in a whisper._

How great of a menace this is? An entire blockade vanishing from one moment to the next? 

“Get. Captain Pallaeon.” He ordered, anger replacing the cold tactician voice he preferred. For he too was shocked in his own way. A whole planetary blockade destroyed at this speed? By whom? - or rather - by what?

He needed data immediatly, and atmospheric conditions as well as distance will make any observation of space impossible to make. He needed a report from the captain of the ISD Harbinger, his loyal eye-above so to speak, now. 

His personal comm buzzed to life. Only to die a mere moments latter. And all he heard was a warning. Of sorts. “Sir, they came out of hyperspace! I’ve never seen-” _The panicked voice of Captain Pallaeon spoke of great danger. The abrupt death of the Harbinger’s comms meant great damage has been done suddenly to the imperial star destroyer – or at the very least - to its communication antennas, and/or bridge._

_In conclusion, he ISD Harbinger has been therefore damaged or destroyed. Abruptly. By an unknown menace with an enough power to not only hold_ _its_ _own against a Star Destroyer but also to damage it._

“Admiral.” Said his communication officer once more. “We have incoming.” _At last, we shall see what the threat is._

“Take a look.” Said the boy, gun pointing at the bridge’s windows. _His confident tone strengthened, this menace is his ally, clearly, or at least, he believes it to be._

The Grand-Admiral turned, partially curious and partially furious at this unknown quantity that was currently throwing all of his carefully layered plans into the bin. What a debacle of an operation on Lothal. 

Dozens upon dozens of Purrgils, space-whales capable of hypertravel, appeared, led by what can only be a rebel ship which was at the helm of the pack. 

So that’s how they avoided interception by any major force. By utilizing local space fauna as their reinforcement. How clever. 

And in but a few seconds, they started attacking the belly and hulls of his task force’s ship, physically that is. And with great effect might he add, as deflector shields cannot handle or block such physical attacks. And soon enough, one by one, his fleet’s ships started losing power and went down – crashing on the ground - with the loss of their power supply and/or anti-grav generator. 

Thus, the planet’s gravity in combination with the corporal strength of the space-whales became the final weapon that brought his fleet to ruin as TIE squads upon TIE squads repeatedly failed to destroy them in any significant number. 

The Chimaera however, he quickly noticed, did not fall victim to the space-whale attacks yet. They were contempt with circling around his capital ship, perhaps they are afraid to hurt the boy. 

Yes, the boy...

His objectives were clear now; This so-called Jedi who sabotaged all of his work and effort put on Lothal since his Commodore-ship must be neutralized. The Force and its abilities are far more dangerous than initially anticipated, and the underestimation of its capabilities as well as that of one of its wielders have now led to great loses.

A mistake of his part, to be corrected immediately. 

At last, in an instant, by his orders, everyone who was armed on the bridge trained their weapons on Ezra. The boy didn’t shoot of course, Jedi morals dictated it. How predictable. 

“Whatever happens next, happens to both of us” He said with a certain degree of satisfaction, despite his clear tactical and strategical defeat. 

“That’s the idea.” The boy said. _With the_ _smallest hint of dread._

So, he was sacrificing himself for ‘the greater good’. Following his Jedi and rebel roots to the last. Very well, if that is his wish then so be it. 

In a split second however, chaos broke through the bridge as one of the whales going around the ship eyed the Grand-Admiral with a rather hostile look and decided to break through the transparasteel to get to him. Blaster shots ran through the bridge as stormtroopers and crewmembers attempted to repulse the creature’s tentacles by shooting at the latter to little or no effect. 

An instant latter and they were all knocked unconscious. As for Thrawn, he found himself made prisoner by the creature which used her appendages like a rope, therefore immobilizing him by going around and grasping tightly at his torso and limbs. 

In that moment he was helpless, as more and more of those creatures attached themselves to his capital ship, but he did not give up yet. Indeed, Thrawn struggled to free his body from the creature’s deadlock while the boy was too occupied with dealing with whatever troops came at him. Fortunately, he managed to free not only his shooting arm but also himself by the time Bridger was almost done with whatever distractions occupied him. 

Unfortunately, his aim was not true - another mistake of his part, for he rarely trained with blasters since his ascension as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Academy in Coruscant - and he ended up shooting and wounding the boy in his left shoulder instead of center mass. The boy in reaction threw him back using what can only be described as a Force push into the embrace of the creature’s arms before sealing away the door to the bridge. Locking both of them inside the latter. 

And that was that. Not ever since his struggle with Nightswan did he loose a battle so decisively and completely. The boy started to speak with his comrades-in-arms on the ground yet again with a most final tone, suggesting that all was ready for the last act. But he himself did not care about such trifle things, his mind was elsewhere, preoccupied with the pain the tightening arms of the Purrgil gave him but also about the unknown location these creatures will send him and his star-destroyer to. 

And then it happened. 

A violent ear-shattering explosion made his ship tremble like it was nothing but a leaf in the wind. 

Ezra Bridger was thrown brutaly onto the ground, and the arms that were holding him released him yet again. Abruptly, however. 

He did not go for any weapons that were laying across the floor in an attempt to finish off the Jedi, no, he was far-far more interested in what was above him rather than behind him. 

A massive ship of gigantic proportions the size of a city and the shape of an iconic but much larger Imperial Star-Destroyer suddenly casted the darkest shadow upon The Chimeara and Lothal all together. 

Never in his life did he see a ship so great and massive. Not in Chiss space and certainly not in Imperial one.

Suddenly the ship’s comm came to life without any authorization being given. It was clear it was overwritten by the warship above. And also, by someone far up the chain-of-command. And not many military men had the ability to overwrite a Great-Admiral's capital ship's communication codes. In fact, no one but one person could.

And he knew who that person was.

There was no doubt. The Emperor was here. 

*

A crisp disciplined voice suddenly spread through the homes and rooms of every Lotharian citizen as well as all manned Imperial bases and military ships present on the Lothal system.

“ _This is Admiral Jhared Montferrat of his Majesty’s Super Star Destroyer ‘Destiny’._

_All Imperial garrisons and forces on planet Lothal as well as the Lothal sector will from this moment obey the orders - and only the orders - coming from her Majesty’s ship or face immediate charges of treason._

_All Imperial citizens are to cease all current activities and go back to their homes until further notice._

_All rebels are instructed to immediately lay down their arms and surrender to the closest Imperial force or face overwhelming destruction._

_This message will repeat itself on all civilian and military channels for the next one-hundred and twenty standard seconds._

_Pass this delay and should any of these factions refuse the orders that are given to them, the peace-keeping forces of her Majesty’s navy and army will be allowed to enforce order with maximum force under the cadre of martial law that has now befallen upon Lothal and its_ _neighboring_ _systems._

_That will be all.”_

“Your Majesty.” Said the Admiral whose voice was just broadcasted to trillions of people. “Was this message sufficient adequate to your orders?” 

“Yes Admiral, I believe our presence was announced well enough.” Replied the most powerful - and lethal - man in the universe, his voice distorted by his all too famous death mask. “But yet again, words without proper hard-power backing them are merely just that, words.” He continued with humor laced in his robotic voice. “Admiral. Fire all Turbolasers on Lothal’s Planetary shields, but do take care on stopping the moment said shield overloads. And instruct General Veers to prepare his troops for takeoff. I want these rebels alive.” 

“Your wish is my command my Lord.” Replied Admiral Montferrat with determination and pride radiating off of him, before crisply turning and diligently giving away orders to Captain Piett among other bridge officers. 

_As it should be._ Darth Vader though. _As it should be._


End file.
